It was reported by MSNBC.com and the news services this morning that the Trayvon Martin shooting was getting a lot of attention. That attention resulted at least in part in the FBI and the DoJ actively investigating the shooting, in addition to the Florida Attorney General's office, a change from the FBI having been merely monitoring the investigation in response to outrage over the circumstances.
What struck me as the most significant paragraph in the report came lower down in the text (the bold emphasis added is mine - DG):
The victim's family lawyer, Ben Crump, said public pressure was behind an earlier promise by the Justice Department to review the case. And some Florida legislators are moving to consider a change in the law to prevent a recurrence.I made a call earlier this morning, after reading this, to the Florida legislature, inquiring about what the status of either repeal or changing the Florida Stand Your Ground law might be. I understand from the nice staffer to whom I spoke that the legislators themselves are out of session this week, but that they will be back next week - but ONLY to address their redistricting issues. The regular session won't be back in session until next year, starting in March 2013. It is a possibility they could have a special session in the fall, but any action looks like it will be more likely after the 2012 election. However I was assured that the legislators who were back in their home districts were talking about this as a hot topic, and that they were hearing on this subject from their constituents. So, in that context, I do think there is a reasonable chance of the Florida Stand Your Ground law being revisited in 2013, especially if the Grand Jury is still in session on this (they meet for six month intervals) and if there is still a heightened public awareness on the subject.
This is significant in the context that our Governor Dayton, quite properly, just vetoed similar legislation. It is similar legislation, because it appears to be ALEC drafted legislation, where we have one size fits only special interest drafted laws that are getting passed by almost exclusively partisan conservatives, with a rare cross-over vote from a democrat - but only rarely. That matters because it is legislation that only serves special interests and only is supported by a narrow highly partisan section of our populace. It is legislation that has a number of inherent problems that have not been adequately addressed.
What problems? First and foremost it is unnecessary legislation. We already have a judicial system that says you don't have to retreat, you can stand your ground in your own home. It is redundant. We already have a system that allows you to shoot an intruder in self defense if you are actually in danger. What this legislation has instituted is that so long as the shooter claims they felt threatened, subjectively, there is no OBJECTIVE examination and no OBJECTIVE proof required to justify that shooting. There is no adequate accountability.
Effectively we are having shootings take place, without appropriate consequences, that should not be happening. Shootings LIKE TRAYVON MARTIN's death. We are having people with guns, like George
Zimmerman, shooting unarmed victims. Shooters like Joe Horn in Texas, who shot two men on someone else's property, not in his own home or yard, while the police were in the process of responding, as they were in the Trayvon Martin shooting; the police in that case also appear to have told the shooter NOT to do what he did, but the shooter went vigilante on them as well, and acted with unnecessary lethal force to shoot unarmed men.
Under the 'Stand Your Ground' laws, currently in 15 states, although we can at least hope that Florida will correct their mistakes and make it only 14, unarmed victims are being shot by shooters who exceed what we allow police to do with criminals. Some of the people being killed are doing something wrong, but not something that justifies deadly force being employed. Others, like Trayvon Martin are not apparently doing anything wrong. These are shootings that are NOT in defense of life, and which should not be occurring in defense of minor property, especially not when someone is trying to stop what they are doing wrong and attempting to leave.
The Stand Your Ground laws have resulted in vigilante-ism, with untrained and unqualified people using deadly force where we do not allow our law enforcement to do so, for crimes we do not punish. Either human lives matter - or they do not. This is inappropriate, it is dangerous; we have innocent people being shot by idiots who should never be allowed a gun or a gun carry permit, much less given this kind of leeway to shoot. Our right wing extremist legislators have made that legal, have removed any checks and balances that we should maintain for safety, and have removed any accountability through the rights of those who are wronged to sue for wrongful death.
ALL of the evils predicted about the Stand Your Ground laws, are coming true. These laws need to go. These laws should not be enacted in those states where they do not currently exist. And the legislators who serve the special interests and the narrow rather than broader electorate, the legislators who keep passing these ALEC written bills.......they need to go too, along with the big money that pays them.
We need to be protected from these shooters, and from these legislators who have enabled them to commit these crimes of deadly force against others, others like Trayvon Martin.
George Zimmerman, a “Wanna Be Cop”, had many “Cry Wolf” type 911 phone calls during his self appointed neighborhood watch rounds, which were nothing more than to make himself feel important compensating for what I would guess was his own lack of self esteem. I would also venture to speculate a guess that he listened to conservative talk radio and Fox programming that supported and enabled his week mind set.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Trayvon Martin was just a kid walking home after buying an Ice Tea and Skittles to take back and finish watching the basket ball games on TV. Trayvon was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood draped over his head because it was raining but to George Zimmerman, Trayvon was just one of "THOSE PEOPLE" that “These assholes. They always get away.” “This guy looks like he’s up to no good or on drugs or something.”
In George Zimmerman’s mind, that was enough justification for Trayvon Martin’s death sentence.
I would give this as a sad statement example of our society today and the effects of the extreme Politically Conservative rhetoric being indoctrinated today. The 17 year old Trayvon Martin was the causality of this socially damaging, extremely conservative, aspect.
Score another one for Rush Limbaugh and his likes.